Comments on: Escambia May Spend $61.7 Million On Recovery Projects Including Broadband Internet, Emergency Vehicles, Parks

By: Jeff Drakeson

Jeff Drakeson — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 05:35:59 +0000

They just NOW finally approved a 2nd raise for public safety which brings them within a hundred miles behind other similar sized agencies with the same call volume or less. So you expect any competency in spending any of this money? You’re giving them too much credit.

Escambia is so far behind the times it’s not even funny. They are more interested in special projects like tennis courts and homeless camps to make themselves look good in the eyes of a few people. But the dilapidated and or outdated infrastructure is laughable, which affects us all. Roads, bridges, bike lanes, sidewalks, lighting, storm drains, sewage, traffic light synching, up to date ambulance equipment on all ambulances (they know exactly what I’m talking about)

My lord the list goes on….

By: John Doe

John Doe — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 14:26:10 +0000

@Sadmom… don’t be sad, mom. Pretty sure your area is included.

By: Sadmom

Sadmom — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 13:38:28 +0000

Concerning County Broadband Fiber Project, hoping this includes include neighborhoods on Hwy.97 off Hwy. 29, Florida Escambia Co. District 5. Our internet is up and down all day long. Phone service too. Both by Frontier. This has been going on for over 20 years that I know of. You can not call for help like 911 if your not able to connect to service. We would move if we could.

By: newby

newby — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 11:42:34 +0000

Read the comments on the 3 million walk over nine mile rd at Beulah Middle with the political outrage over that and barely any on this plan with nearly 4 million on a boat ramp and tennis courts.. I guess since its Federal Bail Out money and not Escambia tax payers, then who cares?

By: Older & wiser

Older & wiser — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 04:16:29 +0000

As a former county employee, I can assure you they ( the all knowing idiots downtown) don’t give a crap about what is needed or wanted by the public. They have wasted way more money than this & will continue to do so until they either die or get removed from office. They are smarter than you & I, don’t you know?

By: Frank Bowen

Frank Bowen — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 03:22:22 +0000

How about addressing stormwater drainage and flooding in southwest
pensacola. We need more and deeper ditches, new culverts.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 21:02:45 +0000

Dang, can we not focus on power and sewer infrastructure? There are some really nice to have items, but our area has recently been crushed by Sally and other severe storms… Lets get the sewer/drainage and electrical infrastructure where they need to be for future significant weather events. 1.3M for tennis courts at one location? Totally agree on the previous Roger Scott access comments.

By: CJ Lewis

CJ Lewis — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 19:42:58 +0000

The agenda item provides no real information about how the County Administrator determined that the county lost $28,358,185.52 “because” of COVID-19. It seems a very precise number considering the complete lack of detail provided to the BOCC and public. The very brief notation explains that the county will not actually spend the “replacement” money to “replace” the lost revenue. It all looks more like a budget “bait and switch” trick. Instead, the money will be a sort of $28+ million slush fund that can be spent on “a wider variety of Projects for the County.” A smarter approach might have been to specifically designate the money to pay for specific projects on the county’s existing “Must Do” list. I suspect that there are lots of much needed storm water projects that could be done for $28+ million. As for the $1.3 million being give to the “city” for the “city’s” tennis courts, at a prior meeting Commissioner Steven Barry complained that his daughter did not get preferential treatment gaining admittance to a city tennis camp. With a big wink and a big nod, Mayor Robinson told Barry to call him and he would take care of it ensuring that Barry’s kid got into the camp ahead of regular citizen’s children. Bet Barry is a big YES vote. To date, no one has explained why the city budget says that the tennis court project is a only $1 million project (as it has been budgeted for years and as was supposed to have been done by this past September) but Robinson now wants more than twice as much. Robinson and Bender live in walking distance of the tennis center. Any BOCC member who is a tennis club member should recuse themselves from that vote. If the county wants to spend money on tennis courts, then why not build one or more “county” tennis centers out where county residents live. I bet that f you asked county residents they could identify several potential places to build county tennis courts. By the way, one point not mentioned in the agenda item, or in Mayor Robinson’s letter, is that the city’s tennis courts are not “public” courts. You cannot just show up and use them. You have to pay big money to use them. A family has to pay $1151.67 to have access to the courts for a year’s membership. The tennis center is run as a private club for rich people. According to the current city budget document, the city’s tennis center had only 764 members in 2020. The budget does not break out where the members live by zip code. This is a lot of money to spend for so few.

By: John Doe

John Doe — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 18:23:23 +0000

the county desparately needs floodwater solutions throughout the area. A shame that nothing will be done.

By: Susie

Susie — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 17:56:31 +0000

I agree @DonaldCooper. I don’t think the County knows how to fix the problem.